Verb Ballets is a contemporary ballet company that presents bold works and builds community through dance
The professional company is comprised of 13 dancers from across the nation and globe. In addition to touring regionally, the company has toured internationally in Cuba and Taiwan and has built lasting partnerships that provide opportunities for cultural exchange. Building community and offering opportunities to learn through dance are at the core of Verb’s mission.
Visit us at the OAPN Conference at Booth #30 and watch our showcase at Playhouse Square on Wednesday at 2:25pm
About the Company
Verb Ballets is a contemporary ballet company that presents bold works and builds community through dance. The company honors the roots of pioneer ballet companies in the rustbelt region. Today, the company is under the leadership of Dr. Margaret Carlson, former principal dancer for Cleveland Ballet, and Richard Dickinson, MFA, former Ohio Ballet dancer. The company strives to commission choreographers that elevate marginalized voices and reflect our times. Building community and offering opportunities to learn through dance are at the core of Verb’s mission. Verb aims to bring programs out to the public, meeting people where they live, work, and learn. The company’s children’s programs explore topics such as arts appreciation, literacy, STEM, and cultural diversity. Verb also offers programs for seniors that emphasize movement to encourage socialization and wellness. The professional company is comprised of 13 dancers from across the nation and globe. In addition to touring regionally, the company has toured internationally in Cuba and Taiwan and has built lasting partnerships that provide opportunities for cultural exchange. Verb Ballets aims to support art that is reflective of our current societal landscape and relevant to our dancers, communities, and dance enthusiasts in Ohio and abroad.
Offering
- Performances
- Children’s Ballets
- Community Outreach
- Residencies
- Master Classes
- Senior Movement Workshops
- Speaking Engagements
- Industry Experience Field Trips
Photo Gallery
Enough Talk, Let's Work Together
Booking New Full Length Ballets
World premieres coming Spring 2022. Now available for booking.
Choreographed by Joshua L. Peugh
Romeo & Juliet
Verb Ballets has commissioned award-winning choreographer Joshua L. Peugh, of New Mexico, to create a contemporized version of Romeo and Juliet. Using the plot and structure of Shakespeare’s play along with the mythology of the story and characters themselves, this new ballet will take an adventurous approach to exploring the intersecting themes of freedom and mortality while reflecting poignant issues of our current political and social reality. Peugh moves audiences to understand movement as a universal language, accessible to all.
Work Features
- Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
- Number of dancers: 12-14
- Running time: 80 minutes one act
- Feature abstract modern set design
”His nuanced style, combines humor, nostalgia and ratified theater with his idiosyncratic movement vocabulary to make dances that anyone can enjoy.
Nancy WoznyARTS + CULTURE TEXAS
Joshua L. Peugh
Joshua L. Peugh is the Founder and Artistic Director of Dark Circles Contemporary Dance and Co-founder of Fair Assembly. A graduate of Southern Methodist University, he has created work for festivals in Asia, Europe, and North America, winning awards for his choreography in South Korea, Japan, Canada, and the USA. He was the recipient of the Grand Prize at the McCallum Theatre’s 18th Annual Choreography Festival and was chosen as one of Dance Magazine‘s “25 to Watch.” Joshua served as choreographer for legendary soprano Kathleen Battle’s concert Underground Railroad – A Spiritual Journey and was the 2018 recipient of the Natalie Skelton Award for Artistic Excellence.
Joshua L. Peugh has created over 40 new works nationally and internationally
Choreographed by Tommie-Waheed Evans
Antigone
Verb Ballets and Philadelphia-based choreographer Tommie-Waheed Evans will join forces again to create a powerful new work based on the Ancient Greek tragedy Antigone. Using his driving urban contemporary ballet movement aesthetic Evans will synthesize the current political climate with the classical world of Antigone. By placing these ancient archetypes into the contemporary world, the tension between action and fate will be met with a dynamic, classically driven score.
Work Features
- Number of dancers: 12
- Running time: 60 minute vignette
- Can be adapted to non traditional stage venues
- Music: commissioned score by industrial electronica composer Greg Smith
”the work is a nonstop tour-de-force - great athleticism and complexity in what could be described as a radical urban style.
Mark SatolaTHE PLAIN DEALER
Tommie-Waheed Evans
2021 Guggenheim Fellow Tommie-Waheed Evans is a queer black dance maker, born and raised in Los Angeles, California, amidst racial divide, gang warfare, and earthquakes. His work explores blackness, spirituality, queerness and liberation. He began his formal training with Karen McDonald before receiving a fellowship at the Ailey School, and a Master of Fine Arts in Choreography from Jacksonville University. He has toured and performed nationally and internationally as a company member of Lula Washington Dance Theater, Complexions Contemporary Ballet and Philadanco. Since 2004, he has created more than 50 original dance works that range widely in scope, length, tone and subject matter. waheedworks, his Philadelphia based dance company, is the primary vehicle for his creative research. The company’s mission is to create a radically collaborative body of work that speaks to the human condition. His work brings together urban street dance styles and contemporary dance vocabulary through bold and raw movements propelled by gospel music and polyrhythmic sounds.
Tommie-Waheed Evans has created over 50 original dance works nationally
Full Repertory Samples
Touring programs can be custom built to fit time and format. Included below, you will find a selection of past repertory. Verb Ballets will help you select pieces for your program and venue to created a memorable performance.
Triptych (1988)
Choreography: Heinz Poll
Music: Felix Mendelssohn, Piano Concerto #2
Company Premiere: June 26, 2021
Number of dancers: 11
Running time: 27:40 minutes
World of Another (2021)
Choreography: Stephanie Martinez
Music: Vivaldi, All Skate, Sheep Balls
Company Premiere: May 14, 2021
Number of dancers: 14
Running time: 18:00 minutes
Dances for Isadora (Five Evocations of Isadora Duncan) (1971)
Choreography: José Limón
Music: Frédéric Chopin
Company Premiere:
Premiere: December 10, 1971 by the José Limón Dance Company
Number of dancers: 5
Running time: 24:42 minutes
Love is… (2010)
Choreography: Christopher Huggins
Music: Michael Galasso, ITMFL I,II, Angkor Wat Theme, Shigeru Umebayashi, Yumej’s Theme
Company Premiere: May 14, 2021
Number of dancers: 14
Running time: 15:00 minutes
KL3668 (2020)
Choreography: Richard Dickinson
Music: Ravel, Sonata for Violin and Cello
Premiere: October 9, 2020
Number of dancers: 12
Running time: 21:20 minutes
Dark Matter (2013)
Choreography: Tommie-Waheed Evans
Music: Greg Smith, composer, and Johann Sebastian Bach, Toccota and Fugue in D Minor
Company Premiere: June 2013
Number of dancers: 11
Running time: 17:40 minutes
